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Today on Facebook, I stumbled upon this idea in a note from fitness trainer Tony Horton (creator of P90X). He is a stickler for eating right. We all know that the foods that you eat are going to play a really big role in whether you get a flat stomach or not. Tony says the one simple food tip for a flat stomach is to count your ingredients, not calories. This is a new one that I've never heard, but it makes a lot of sense.

The goal is to eat single ingredient foods or foods with as few ingredients as possible. Foods like eggs, oatmeal, nuts, berries, apples, spinach, chicken, salmon, sweet potatoes, etc. If you eat mainly these foods, you will naturally stay fuller and there won't be any need to count calories.

Tony asks, "Wanna take it one step further? Keep an ingredient log, not a food log." If you're eating the foods above, your ingredient log IS your food log, right? But suppose you ate some Smart Start cereal and some Reduced Fat Wheat Thins as an example, your ingredient list would look something like this:

RICE, WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT, SUGAR, OAT CLUSTERS (SUGAR, TOASTED OATS [ROLLED OATS, SUGAR, CANOLA OIL WITH TBHQ AND CITRIC ACID TO PRESERVE FRESHNESS, MOLASSES, HONEY, BHT FOR FRESHNESS, SOY LECITHIN], WHEAT FLAKES, CRISP RICE [RICE, SUGAR, MALT, SALT], CORN SYRUP, POLYDEXTROSE, HONEY, CINNAMON, BHT [PRESERVATIVE], ARTIFICIAL VANILLA FLAVOR), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SALT, HONEY, MALT FLAVORING, ALPHA TOCOPHEROL ACETATE (VITAMIN E), NIACINAMIDE, ZINC OXIDE, REDUCED IRON, SODIUM ASCORBATE AND ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, YELLOW #5, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), BHT (PRESERVATIVE), VITAMIN A PALMITATE, FOLIC ACID, BETA CAROTENE (A SOURCE OF VITAMIN A), VITAMIN B12 AND VITAMIN D.WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, CORNSTARCH, MALT SYRUP (FROM BARLEY AND CORN), INVERT SUGAR, MONOGLYCERIDES, SALT, VEGETABLE COLOR (ANNATTO EXTRACT, TURMERIC OLEORESIN). CONTAINS: WHEAT. BHT ADDED TO PACKAGING MATERIAL TO PRESERVE FRESHNESS, etc.

Not a pretty picture, is it? Now, I know it's not easy to eat whole foods all the time, but let's try out best together. Tony gave me a good reminder, as a former Reduced Fat Wheat Thin eater myself. I think I'll go grab an apple instead.

All the best in health and fitness,
- Coach Jenn of PersonalFitCoach.com and Team Beachbody

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